Prelude from 'La Traviata' (Verdi)

'La Traviata' has become one of Verdi's most performed and best loved works. The Prelude, with which the opera opens, offers a fine example of Verdi's delicacy of scoring and genuine imagination in his writing for the theatre. Geoffrey Brand has completed a masterful arrangement of this work for concert band.

Genre: Band | # of Players: Standard
Level: 3.5 | Duration: 3:50

Instrumentation
1st Flute/Piccolo
2nd Flute
1st Oboe
2nd Oboe
1st Bb Clarinet
2nd Bb Clarinet
3rd Bb Clarinet
Bb Bass Clarinet*
1st Bassoon
2nd Bassoon*
1st Eb Alto Saxophone
2nd Eb Alto Saxophone*
Bb Tenor Saxophone
Eb Baritone Saxophone*

1st Bb Trumpet
2nd Bb Trumpet
3rd Bb Trumpet
1st F Horn
2nd F Horn
3rd F Horn
4th F Horn*
1st Trombone
2nd Trombone*
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
TC Baritone
Tuba

String Bass*

* Parts marked with an asterisk (*) are NOT ESSENTIAL, although their presence will obviously enable a fuller realization of the composer's intentions to be achieved.

Program Notes
Giuseppe Verdi's life is an example of ultimate high achievement in spite of enormous early adversities. Born into a small hamlet in Parma, Italy, Verdi's earliest music influences were the organ and the church.

At the age of 18, he applied to enter the Conservatoire of Music in Milan but was rejected. The following year, he unsuccessfully tried for the post of cathedral organist in Milan. By 1845, Verdi wrote of being "condemned continually to scribble notes. Happiness does not exist for me." His music was not widely accepted or performed

Following the first performance of 'La Traviata' in Venice in 1853, he said, "La Traviata, last night, was a fiasco. Is it my fault or the singers? Time will tell." It has; La Traviata has become one of Verdi's most performed and best loved works.

The Prelude from 'La Traviata', with which the opera opens, offers a fine example of Verdi's delicacy of scoring and genuine imagination in his writing for the theatre.